THE LEGACY OF WOLFGANG VON TRIPS

Wolfgang von Trips, minutes before his demise 

"I wanted to win, but not at this price." - so remarked the 1961 Formula One champion Phil Hill. It was a dream victory to have secured his maiden world title in Formula One driving for Ferrari and to top it, in front of the several thousands of Tifosi at Monza, Italy. Hill won the title by leapfrogging his teammate by one point. Wolfgang von Trips, his colleague and the points leader coming into the race needed a third placed finish to secure the driver's title, a first for a German driver. His race ended on lap two, and a little later, his life ended too!

DEATH AT THE TRACK

Growing up as a racer, Von Trips was not new to accidents. In fact, he survived so many accidents before maturity and consistency became an integral part of his driving. And these new attributes were on display when he was part of Ferrari's dream team of 1961. Phil Hill, Richie Ginther, Ricardo Rodriguez, Giancarlo Baghetti and Wolfgang von Trips won five of the seven races Ferrari took part in and the team and its drivers were clearly miles ahead from rest of the pack.

Coming into the penultimate race at Monza, Von Trips was leading the championship by four points over his American teammate Phil Hill. They were friends off the track, but on the race day they were fierce competitors as both wanted to be the first from their country to win a driver's title.

Von Trips was in the best position to claim the win as he qualified in the front row with the fastest time and all Hill could manage was fourth. Thousands of fans had gathered with a prospect of watching one of the Ferrari drivers winning the title.

The race started - Von Trips had the worst start and by the end of lap one he was placed sixth and ahead of him were - Phil Hill who led the race, followed by his other team mates Ginther and Rodriguez; then came Jim Clark, followed closely by Jack Brabham and Von Trips.

Von Trips relying on Ferrari's superior speed got past Clark and was chasing down Brabham. Clark with a lighter fuel load was not in a mood to give up that easy and his pace and car handling kept him within few metres of the German. As they duo approached the Parabolica curve, Von Trips slowed down a bit to position himself better to take the tricky right hander. Sensing an opportunity, Clark tried to overtake Von Trips from the left and at this instant, Von Trips moved slightly to the left to cover his position and next moment - bang!

The left rear of Von Trips made a severe high speed contact with Jim Clark's right front wheel and in the next few seconds, it was a catastrophe. The Ferrari took the aerial route, found itself inverted and with no seat belts, Von Trips was thrown off the car and he fell down with a great impact. The car with a high momentum went on to strike the fence where spectators were placed, hit some of them before flipping back on the track.

Von Trips died on the spot and so too eleven spectators. Three more died the next day and one after five days.

THE AFTERMATH

"Trips was head of me, driving on the centre of the track. Suddenly he slowed down. Since my Lotus was faster than the Ferrari, I tried to overtake him. In the same instant the Ferrari surprisingly pulled to the left, and a collision became unavoidable..." - this was Jim Clark's take on that dreadful incident.

Recollecting the incident after 50 years, the second placed driver that day Dan Gurney gave an account on what happened and what was the attitude back then in an interview with Daily Mail: "'I had a very good seat for watching what happened. I was probably running in about 10^th place in my Porsche. There was a great group of drivers, some of whom were braver and less experienced than they should have been so the chance of something like that happening was pretty great." 

Phil Hill knew there was a huge accident, but the race continued. He completed the race in a little over two hours before he enquired his manager about what had happened.

"And Trips? Is he dead?"

"Come on,” said the manager. "They want you for the awards ceremony."

In today's world, it is unimaginable to think of such a response. But the times were different and as Dan Gurney points out - "We were born at a different time and basically were raised during the time of World War Two with many of us involved, or very close to being involved in it. It seemed to be the general outlook, people didn't complain about things and they had a World War Two attitude."

Robert Daley, who was a journalist that day recalled - "The emotions are still right on the surface. I was the same age as these guys and they were dying all around me."

In his book 'The Limit', the author Michael Cannell covers Phil Hill's triumph and the 1961 Formula One season - " I always felt like this was a proxy war. The British, Italians, Germans - they were still in some way fighting World War II. They were putting their handsome young men in the most sophisticated machinery and sending them out to their deaths."

LEGACY

Wolfgang von Trips belonged to one of the respected families in Germany. The Von Trips family lived in Castle Hemmerbach since 1751, and Von trips grew up in this grand building, with his ears attuned to the sounds of the Silver Arrows at the Nürburgring, which was very close to the castle grounds.

In 1961, a month prior to his unexpected demise, a fan club was formed in his honour and continuing the name of this great German post WW II, the members constructed a go kart facility in Horrem. With time, the virus of karting spread across Germany and with constant support from the Von Trips family, came a new facility in Kerpen-Mannheim.

Michael Schumacher's dad Rolf got involved and leased the facility for some time and that is where the Schumacher brothers first got the taste of racing. Other German drivers like Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Nick Heidfeld and the four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel are all the products of this facility. Michael Schumacher re-started the passion and went on to complete the unfinished job of Von Trips in becoming the first German driver champion of F1 and the trend continues......

ON AN END NOTE

Wolfgang Von Trips on the brink of becoming the first German to win the championship was eager to get the 1961 Italian Grand Prix off his back. He was visibly nervous and he disclosed his feeling to Robert Daley and his wife over tea on the eve of the Grand Prix - "Every driver has a place deep inside him where he's afraid of death." He went on to add - "This could all end tomorrow, you never know." 

C'EST LA VIE - VETTEL & FERRARI AT THE BELGIAN GRAND PRIX

Image Source: The Guardian 

Sebastian Vettel had to bow out of the Belgian Grand Prix while he was fighting for the third place. Behind him was Romain Grosjean and he looked good to overtake the Ferrari and steal the last place on the podium from Vettel. With Mercedes not losing its might in the championships, one can assume, a third place finish to be a winner. And Vettel was within this reach and they were on a one-stop strategy with the hard tyres 27 laps old. And then, the Ferrari fending off Grosjean's Lotus had to take some defensive lines and this went on for about five laps and boom! - off it went Vettel's rear right tyre and there was no option but to retire as he had a good 5 km or so to cover to reach the pits. Whose fault was it?

NOT FOR THE FIRST TIME AND DEFINITELY NOT THE LAST TIME

It was not the first time a driver had to retire in Formula One - there have been many occasions when F1 cars have retired when the car was within kilometres from winning before hell broke loose. In the recent past, it has happened to Mika Hakkinen at the Spanish Grand Prix 2001, the car ceased to move because of engine related problems and he retired on the last lap, while leading the race. Kimi Raikkonen was leading the 2005 European Grand Prix and for the last twenty laps he went on with a flat spot on his front right tyre. He raced on over the course of twenty laps (rules stated no tyre change unless punctured) and this affected the suspension and the tyre came off on the last lap. Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren took a gamble. The team and the driver collectively took a decision to ride on their luck hoping it would pay off. Fernando Alonso would have won the race as he had a better car behind Kimi or if Kimi could have held him off,  McLaren would have celebrated the victory. You play the sport with high stakes at times!

When it comes down to going for glory or nothing, you gotta be prepared that - the other side of victory is defeat. To give one more instance of riding on one's luck - Ferrari and Michael Schumacher at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix decided not to pit for new tyres when it was clearly visible the car lacked grip and losing time. Ferrari wanted to gain more points as Schumacher's rival Fernando Alonso (yeah, again) had retired from the race. Ferrari relented and ended up losing Michael Schumacher as he damaged his suspension trying to defend from cars overtaking him.

For Ferrari and Vettel, yes it was unfortunate that tyre gave up the way it did. Twenty seven laps on a single set of hard tyres was not the way other drivers chose. The car was handling fine and I was confident he could have made it but for the pressure exerted by Romain Grosjean in the dying stages of the race. Vettel up until then was happy to be placed third and chose not to pit for new tyres - the script was perfect, just that the Grosjean factor was not considered. The four-time champion could have let the faster car go instead of defending  - but a racer that he is, it is not easy to let go someone without fight in that heat of racing. Vettel pushed his luck, while Ferrari crew could only watch and hope the result to be in their side and in the end it didn't pay off. Tough luck!

Post race, Vettel went aggressive on Pirelli and suggested the tyres must never come off as long as drivers raced within the track limits. However, this isn't an ideal world where things happen as we wish it has to, there will be anomalies and Vettel's tyre burst was one such case. He was fighting for the third place in a race where Ferrari looked out of sorts - Vettel took the gamble and in the end it didn't go his way.

When reporters asked Pirelli head Paul Hembery about Vettel's reaction - he brushed away and told drivers undergo a lot of things after such intense battle before showing surprise about being unaware of Ferrari's single stop strategy compared to rest of the drivers. 

While Vettel has come to terms with the issue of tyres, the world of motorsport mourned at the loss of a former F1 driver Justin Wilson. He drove in the 2003 season in a specially customised cars designed by Minardi and Jaguar as he was very tall for the normal design. He passed away after sustaining head injuries in a IndyCar race.

Graham Nash once quoted - “Life is not perfect. It never will be. You just have to make the very best of it, and you have to open your heart to what the world can show you; and sometimes it's terrifying, and sometimes it's incredibly beautiful, and I'll take both.”

Formula One and motor racing is dangerous and yet people have great ambitions to be part of it, safety marshals risk their lives in doing their job by the track side and many others including fans who are in the circuit - why?

Hindsight is vision 20:20 and decisions are not made all the time looking backwards, some decisions are made on the go looking at the present - it works at times, and in other times it doesn't. If it pays off - life is beautiful; when it doesn't - life can be cruel. C'est la vie, Voilà Formule Un! 

IT HAPPENED IN AUSTRIA - THE UNPOPULAR TEAM ORDER

Far from tears of joy! Image Courtesy - ESPNF1 

It might be a super-hero movie cliché but there is a lot of merit to this line - 'you always have a choice'. Looking back, if Michael Schumacher felt Rubens Barrichello deserved the win (at the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix), he would not have crossed the finish line ahead of his Brazilian teammate. The two Ferraris might have been stranded few metres before the chequered flag, egging each other to cross the line first. Nothing of that sort happened - in a matter of few seconds, Michael Schumacher benefitted from the team orders. Team orders are fine, but personally I felt, this was one occasion where the Ferrari think tank went a bit overboard.

Having said that, Formula One is a team sport, it is a business with all the commercial jargons packed in and served to us twenty times a year. It is the ultimate prize in motor-racing and it is also an expensive affair. Teams invest a lot and everybody strives to win. Yes, it is all about winning - but at what cost?

PERILS OF A NUMBER TWO DRIVER

I am a Ferrari fan and an ardent admirer of Michael Schumacher. But on the Sunday of 12 May 2002, I didn't enjoy that particular victory a lot. Yes, it was 1-2 Ferrari, but there was more to it. Even in business, some situations are not crystal clear unlike the well-penned points in a contract and yes, Rubens Barrichello deserved the win irrespective of the championship situation. It wasn't the first time such a fate has met a driver. Team orders have been issued by all the big teams and in fact even Michael Schumacher was driver number two, helping Eddie Irvine during the 1999 season. Coulthard was the regular man Friday to Hakkinen on numerous occasions in 1998 and 1999 and not to forget, Damon Hill helped Alain Prost win his fourth world title in 1993. The examples can go on... but i hope you get the gist of what I am trying to say here.

IT HAPPENED A YEAR AGO

At the 2001 Austrian Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher was behind the race leader Juan Pablo Montoya trailing by 1.6s. The fight was getting intense and on lap 16,  Michael tried to pass into the right-hander at turn two; Montoya did well to block the racing line but went wide and didn't leave any racing line to Michael Schumacher, which forced both cars to go off-track. No damage done, however a line of cars - Barrichello, Verstappen, Coulthard, Raikkonen and Olivier Panis went past them. Schumacher summed up the incident - "The fight had been fair until the incident, then he tried to take me out at the corner, and I had to go on the grass because I couldn't turn in on him. He wasn't looking where he was going, he was looking where I was going'.

Montoya tries hard to stop a quicker Schumacher at the 2001 Austrian Grand Prix

Schumacher upped his pace and was in third position by lap 28. Coulthard in second position and the other Ferrari driver Barrichello, led the race. Schumacher soon joined this duo and 0.9s separated the top three places as Michael Schumacher was first to pit on lap 46 and two corners later ran wide losing few tenths of a second on his out-lap. A lap later, Rubens Barrichello pits and comes ahead of Michael Schumacher. The race was now in the hands of Coulthard and his team of mechanics. Coulthard stayed on track for two more laps before coming in to the pits on lap 50. Eight seconds stationary (it was the era of refuelling!!!) and emerged out of the pits as the race leader. Twenty one laps remaining, the championship contender from McLaren was in the lead with the Ferraris behind him. With Mika Hakkinen's woes continued, it was already established that, it was the Scotsman who would lead the championship battle from McLaren. The win for Coulthard would narrow Schumacher's lead in the title race.

The race order remained this way - Coulthard, Barrichello and Michael Schumacher. With less than three laps to go, Jean Todt called on Barrichello to inform him to give way for Schumacher to have those extra two points. Rubens waited...the cars were at the fading stages of the penultimate lap, the race order remained the same... all eyes were on Jean Todt as he discussed with Ross Brawn and called on Barrichello once again as the cars crossed the finish line for one last lap - "Rubens, it's the last lap, let Michael pass for the championship, let Michael pass for the championship Rubens, please".

Rubens did let Michael pass in the final corner and thereby picking up those additional two points. Yes, it was disappointing for Rubens but one has to remember, Formula One at that point was (and still is) a team sport and Ferrari were not the first ones to employ such tactics to help a driver win the championship. With Coulthard's unexpected victory, the points table was a lot closer. Michael Schumacher led the championships by four points to David Coulthard's 38 points and Rubens Barrichello had only mustered eighteen points. 'If I hadn't been close to Rubens the team would not have asked. Ferrari might have a different philosophy to McLaren, who have also used this strategy in the past. Imagine, how it would be if we got to the end of the season and lost the World Championship by two points'. 

There is a lot of merit to this argument (Eddie Irvine lost to Hakkinen in 1999 by two points) - but what happened next year at the same venue was nowhere close to this.

NEXT YEAR WAS NOT THE SAME

Strictly, there are no comparisons from these two races. In 2001, Michael Schumacher was dominant in most parts of the race and one might argue, barring for few racing incidents, he did deserve to win the race. Besides, the championship battle was tighter in 2001.  

In 2002, it wasn't the case. First and foremost, Rubens Barrichello did an excellent job of being the fastest driver in the warm-up, took the pole position and led the race for all laps but for the final corner when he had to yield to Michael Schumacher and this time, it was for the victory and no, there was no championship at stake. Yes, team orders has influenced results to benefit a team and a driver, but on that day, Schumacher coming in second place would not have mattered.

Rubens did everything right...which deserved him to win the race... Team orders went bonkers! 

Moments later, both drivers make a mockery of the ceremony protocol, Michael refused to stand on the top step and instead asked Rubens to stand. German national anthem was heard loud and clear across the track, while it was a Brazilian standing on the top step. When it was the time for Italian national anthem, both Ferrari drivers stood on the podium and there were no signs of joy or the excitement in spite of winning the race 1-2. And to end it, the trophy was presented to Michael Schumacher which he quickly passed on to Rubens Barrichello, who happily accepted it.

THE REPERCURSSIONS

At the end of the day, it was a bad call by the team. Ferrari was winning virtually every race they took part and media houses had to find something to pinch the Italian team. Crowd booed Michael Schumacher and he admitted in the press conference 'it was not a right choice' and 'he derived no joy from this victory and it was not the way he had envisioned to win in Austria for the first time'. It was a wrong choice though Rubens was aware what his role with Ferrari was when he had signed a fresh contract few days earlier.  

Barrichello takes home the trophy while Schumacher gets 10 points... Image Courtesy: Grand Prix Magazine

Michael Schumacher in his position within the team could have argued against the top management's decision to let him pass, perhaps he didn't push it hard as he still had to focus on driving. FIA summoned the team and drivers were questioned in a disciplinary hearing while many writers wrote the race being one of the sad days in Formula One. No, it was a far cry from being sad. If you want to term a sad day in Formula One, then look at the drivers who died racing. That is sad and cruel - and what happened to Rubens was just bad luck and a glimpse at the competitive and human side of Formula One. 

MIRACLE ON THE LAST LAP - 2001 SPANISH GRAND PRIX

"Just the other way around" - Michael says to Hakkinen 

The rushes of smoke billowing from the back of McLaren-Mercedes is still fresh. Mika Hakkinen, the driver in it was cruising as he prepared to drive the last lap with a lead over 40 seconds. "This is not the way I like to win" - these words from Michael Schumacher summed up the lap, race and the eventual victor of 2001 Spanish Grand Prix.

This was Michael Schumacher's 150^th  start of his career and being on pole position seemed like the best place to start the race in the Circuit de Catalunya. Unlike the previous year, Mika Hakkinen was having a horrid time behind the wheels and coming into that race he had scored only four points in as many races. David Coulthard, his teammate was in top form and was tied with Michael for the top place.

THE GET-AWAY AS USUAL

The race was held towards the end of April and so the temperatures were pleasant, hovering around 20°C. Michael Schumacher made his usual get-away without any drama as he eased his way to the first turn, and second turn and went about his regular business. From McLaren's perspective, it was Mika and only him to challenge Michael that afternoon. David Coulthard had to start from the back as his car stalled at the start of the parade lap and soon in opening lap of the race, he had a minor collision, as a result of which he had to pit to nurse his damaged front wing. It was catching up all the way through to the chequered flag for the Scotsman.

The battle for the front was between the maestros - Schumacher keeping Hakkinen behind him as they duelled closely through to the first round of pit stops. Schumacher first to pit on lap 23 and four laps later, the Finn came in for his fuel and fresh set of tyres. 'The strategy' of delaying the tyre stop didn't work for the McLaren team as the race order remain unchanged, though Mika Hakkinen had now set the fastest lap which was soon beaten by Michael Schumacher.

The gap between these two veterans constantly hovered around 3 seconds as Hakkinen tracked Schumacher and never let Michael get out of his sight. This was the case until Michael Schumacher came in for his second pit stop. 9.3 seconds stationary and out he went, lap 44, game on and from the looks of it, advantage Ferrari.

LOSING THE LEAD AND THE BACKING OFF

If one can make conclusions based on the events till that point, it was certain Michael Schumacher would go on to win the race. Hakkinen, until that point was trailing and never had any significant opportunities to overtake the #1 Ferrari on track. 'The Tactic' of staying on track a bit longer would ensure less downtime while refilling the tank. The plan worked for the Finn and the McLaren team, as he managed to stay six laps longer. Those six laps were enough to build a lead in excess of 26 seconds as he came in to his final tyre and fuel stop. My mind went back to that historic Japanese GP of 2000 when the roles were reversed as Hakkinen maintained his lead with only 15 laps left. In the meantime, Michael Schumacher was losing a second to Hakkinen on each sector.

A FINAL LAP TO REMEMBER

Ten laps to go and Michael Schumacher was already in cruise mode. A slight problem with the balance on his tyres was preventing him to go faster. With a large gap to the third placed Montoya, there was no threat and a drive at that pace (nearly four seconds off his personal best) would ensure the second place.

 The pace went down even further in the last four laps and he was driving to the chequered flag to secure those 6 points. Coming into the last lap, Hakkinen had a lead close to 40 seconds over Michael Schumacher and had lapped everyone but the second placed driver. The fourth consecutive Spanish GP victory looked set for Mika and it was just a matter of him driving the car for another 75 seconds. 

Then came the rattle, Montoya unlaps himself as he zooms past the slowing McLaren. It was time to win at ease as there was no hurry! Oh wait, Mika shakes his head as he turned into a corner, Hakkinen is slowing down and I was like - "Where is Schumacher?". Soon those were the words of the commentators as well as the TV producer got busy ordering his crew to shift cameras between the dramatic slowdown of McLaren to the slightly off-pace Ferrari. Faced with clutch problems, Hakkinen made few adjustments and a couple of moments later he realised he was unable to reduce the problems he was facing.

Holy smoke!! on the last lap 

Sparks ignited and then came the smoke, a thick one and the car was going nowhere. He slows it down, turns left to park his car and a rose from his seat with a shake of disbelief. Just as Hakkinen was stepping out of the car, Schumacher gets past him to become the new race leader.

POST RACE

A couple of corners to go, Schumacher and Ferrari and rest of us were all in a puzzled state as to what had just transpired. The dejected faces on McLaren pit said it all, what could you say to convince yourself that it didn't happen??? This is what viewers expect out of a F1 race, if possible each race.

Schumacher waved at his fans as he came around to complete his race, chequered flag and yet another victory. A shocked but relieved at this result, he went on to say - "I just saw Mika. Poor guy, I feel sorry for him. We had a huge problem with the third set, I had huge vibrations and that's why I slowed down because I was afraid, I have a tyre which is delaminating or something or going quite wrong - but anyway guys, it seems to be our day, we have been bloody lucky, nevertheless we have got a good car with all the changes (traction control and other electronic aids), we have to finish and we did it. Good job".

Hakkinen's His Man Friday Coulthard - but this time it was after the race 

Hakkinen took a ride back to the pits from his teammate and along the way, he waved at all those track marshals and few of the fans, who kept on cheering "Mika, Mika". Schumacher at the Parc Ferme, saw Hakkinen and ran to him in spite of FIA officials wanting him to finish the pre-podium formalities. They embraced a warm hug, few smiles and few words were spoken in a hurry about luck in F1 racing.

"I'm super-disappointed - goddamm it, you know, Jesus" Those came from Hakkinen.  

Schumacher later admitted he was shocked to see Mika retire and said "This is not the way I like to win, but it has happened in the past and these things happen in racing".

A driver like Schumacher would have loved a fight, however, equally he was philosophical about these elements like luck in racing. On that Sunday, 29th April 2001, the luck went his way and like he said, you lose some, you win some!

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER'S LAST WIN: 2006 CHINESE GRAND PRIX

Those celebrations, his 91st and last win of his F1 career 

In the last race at Malaysia, I had the pleasure of hearing the German national anthem followed by the Italian anthem. These two tunes, played one after the other was one of the things I would seek for, on Sundays when the top three cars came to an halt. The three drivers standing on the podium, watching Michael Schumacher standing on the top step, soaking in the atmosphere, hear the orchestra and spray champagne or muted celebrations if occasion(s) demanded so.

Sebastian Vettel winning in a Ferrari reminded me of those wonder years and weekends when Michael Schumacher won quite remarkably with the Italian team. I would have heard these two tunes in succession at least 50 times, if not more and last such occasion before this year's Malaysian Grand Prix was the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix.

ONE FROM MY MIND

My memories from that race is so fresh. Michael Schumacher storming past Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault at turn one, that overtake remains etched in my memory and has to be one of my favourite moments of Schumacher's racing history. That victory in China put him level with Alonso in points for with two races to go. Michael Schumacher didn't go on to win the driver's championship - but the manner in which he drove in China and in the final race at Interlagos (Brazilian Grand Prix), just made me wonder - 'Why Michael, why won't you race more'? He was then two months shy of turning 38, and yet his reflexes were as good as any driver on the track. The choice and timing of retirement is so personal that one cannot say if it is a good one or a bad one, just with any decisions we take at a certain point in time. I believe we make a certain call which seemed right at that point and then.......... all that remain are perspectives.

HIS LAST WIN

Three seasons in the wilderness and then Michael surprises the racing world when he announced his comeback with Mercedes. He raced with them for further three seasons, which yielded no wins and his tally remained at 91 wins in spite of racing close to sixty races in those three years.

His 91^st win came at a time when he was chasing Fernando Alonso for an unprecedented eighth world title. Going into the race, he was 2 points behind the Spaniard, and three races remaining. It was now down to the drivers with both cars evenly matched. After having made his emotional announcement to leave Ferrari and the sport in the previous race,  the racing world knew these were the final moments when the ace German would be behind the wheels. His last three races, his last punch, that last bit of mighty effort and go for three wins for his team, and for the dream farewell.

2006 CHINESE GRAND PRIX

The weather was anything but clear  and was wet during the qualifying session. This meant, the Bridgestone intermediates found wanting when compared to Michelins and Michael Schumacher was the only driver to finish in top ten, the sole Bridgestone runner. Alonso and his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella were 1-2 and as Michael stated - "We did the best we could in these conditions. You can call it a damage limitation operation".

The race started under wet conditions, and all Schumacher needed was a safe start, clear getaway and maintain his position if not gain a couple of positions. The lights went off, Schumacher, a little less aggressive kept away from any trouble and his position remained at six at the end of lap one. The gap between him and Alonso, who at the top was 6.5 seconds and increasing with each corner they went passed by.

Eight laps went this way and by this time the Bridgestone tyres had shown improved performance and this came in the aid of Schumacher. On lap nine, Schumacher pulled off an overtaking manoeuvre on his ex-teammate Rubens Barrichello to move to fifth.  Next up was Jenson Button, and this time it was the use of sheer straight-line speed advantage over the Honda powered engine of Button's. End of lap 14 and Michael Schumacher was in fourth position and his gap to Alonso, the race leader was 25.3 seconds, with 43 laps more to go.

The Ferrari was a touch faster than the Renaults and the pressure was felt by Alonso, who went off the track for a second or two onto the grass.. it was all playing into the hands of Ferrari maestro. Kimi Raikkonen, by this time having overtaken Fisichella was in second position and on lap 18 he retired from a mechanical failure (throttle problem) having just made his first pit-stop.

Michael Schumacher was now in third position and made his first pit-stop on lap 21, followed by Fisichella a lap later and Alonso, two laps later. At the end of these pit-stops, Michael Schumacher had retained his third position and was in pursuit of the two Renaults. Alonso opted for just the change of his front tyres while sticking to the rear-tyres.

The decision to go with unchanged rear tyres would soon haunt Alonso. At the race midway, Fisichella and Schumacher take advantage of a relatively slower Renault of Alonso. Fisichella makes his move to take the lead. A lap later at turn two, Michael Schumacher moves inside and overtakes Alonso to move into second position. Twenty-six laps to go and Schumacher has a Renault and a pit-stop ahead of him.

Struggling for grip with his existing tyres and reacting to other drivers make the switch to the dry tyres, Fernando Alonso makes his second and final pit stop on lap 35 and he found himself stationed for 19.2 seconds owing to the problem with the right rear release. This little drama now put focus on Fisichella and Michael Schumacher and their battle in the remaining twenty laps.

On lap 40, Ferrari call in Michael Schumacher and release him at the end of 6.9 s with dry tyres. A lap later Fisichella, having had a track advantage over Schumacher comes into the pit-stop, stays for 6.6 s and off he goes to join the race track. There was a clear gap between Fisichella as he exited the pits to Schumacher as he had just crossed the start/finish line.

A turn later, Fisichella struggling for grip on his fresh and relatively colder set of tyres and Schumacher zooms past him nonchalantly with two wheels on the track and two wheels on the kerbs and Astroturf. He chased, chased all this while and now he was presented with the only opportunity the Renault team would give to take the lead. At the height of Renault's vulnerability, there he was, Michael Schumacher in full authority ruthlessly getting past Fisichella to take the lead. He went to say about the move - "I knew he'd see I was coming and that he would be pressing (with fresh and cold tyres) and I sort of expected he would be having a moment".

 What would be Alonso and Renault's response? Alonso puts in fastest laps, one after the other, seven in a row, takes second spot and chases Michael Schumacher. But the damage had been done and unless Michael would make a mistake, even those rain drops which were beginning to accumulate on the race track would not come in the way of his victory.

An enthusiastic Michael goes past the chequered flag to win his first Chinese Grand Prix, his 91st Grand Prix and what turned out to be the last win of his career - but little did I or he knew about it on that evening of 1st October in Shanghai. With two races left in the 2006 season, both Alonso and Michael Schumacher were tied in first place with 116 points. "It's clear that if I win in Suzuka (and Alonso went scoreless) we have done it. We have it in our hands. We'll go for it as hard as we can, and the better one will be the winner".

Oh, Michael, you didn't win your title that year - but there is no arguing who the better winner was and is!

Sebastian Vettel, then aged 19 was a reserve driver with BMW-Sauber and had participated in one of the Friday free practice sessions. Come Sunday, he and Ferrari would hope to emulate that performance of 2006 against the Mercedes. 

MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX - THE VERSTAPPENS AND THE FERRARIS

Jos Verstappen in the dying stages of 2001 Malaysian Grand Prix, unfortunate to finish outside of top 6 by a whisker

As soon as the chequered flag was waved, the timing screen had the rookie teenager on the time screen placed sixth in the qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix . This sensational drive by Max Verstappen reminded me of a race which had his father Jos Verstappen display amazing driving skills in Malaysia under similar conditions.

My mind went back in time, 14 years to be precise and recalled one of the best Malaysian Grand Prix races I witnessed. On the back of Ferrari's domination after a brief setback, one also witnessed the prowess of Jos Verstappen moving up places rapidly and was in 6th place at the end of lap one, after having started way down in 18th position. He finally finished seventh in the race - but had done enough to impress his team and many others who watched that race.

That race, it was on the race day when teams had prepared for dry conditions and team crew, most notably Ron Dennis openly stating 'it will be a dry race'. Mother nature was smarter than most gadgets and short burst of rain caused mayhem, spoiled team plans and what happened next was sheer class driving by Michael Schumacher, who was aided immensely by the strategy of choosing intermediate tyres while rest of the pack went for more gripping wet tyres.

THE START

It was dark, gloomy and yet many predicted it would stay dry for the race. Just when the cars assembled and waiting for the five red lights to go, Fisichella had incorrectly placed his Benetton. The race start was aborted. Sigh of relief for some while many hearts still pounding, so were mine at the start of the race. A few breather moments as many of the pit crew assembled next to their cars, shielding the machinery by stuffing dry ice onto the side radiators to prevent it from further heat loss. As expected, Fisichella would lose his grid position owing to his error and would now start the race from the back of the grid. The race distance was cut-short by one lap as a result of this aborted start and now effectively, the race would be re-started fresh and race for 55 laps.

THE RE-START

All that delay was put aside, and now cars were ready for the warm-up lap. More drama! Juan-Pablo Montoya stalled on the grid as cars around past his BMW-Williams. He would now lose his 6^th position on the grid. While the cars are parading along the circuit to complete the warm up lap, Juan Pablo Montoya was having a race to quickly reach the pit garage and get on to the spare car.

The re-start had no such drama as Michael Schumacher pulled away from his team-mate and rest of the pack in his usual style. Ralf had a great start and narrowly took the second place at the first corner only to slip, do a 360° and join the track. Both Williams effectively were behind the rest of the pack.

As the cars approached second turn of the track, the race had its first retirement - Kimi Raikkonen out with driveshaft problems. And seconds later, Oliver Panis of BAR-Honda spins off the circuit  from a oil leak, leaving behind a trail of oil on the track. 

OCEAN OF RAIN

Lap two - Two Ferraris out of the track, one followed the other onto the gravel traps. In an awkwardly manner both kept the engines running, ambled onto the grass and rejoined the track. Jarno Trulli and his team Jordan led the race and to time it, clouds opened up and rain started to pour in. By the time safety car was called on and lap three was completed, four cars had spun off and Eddie Irvine retired on the pits with water leakage!

Fifteen cars out of the twenty-two lined up behind the safety car, moving slowly across the damp conditions of Sepang. It was chaos in the pitlane as cars waited for their turns to change the tyres. Barrichello stood in the pits with Michael Schumacher waiting behind him for a good one minute 12 seconds! 

Fans and followers of McLaren were ecstatic. They were praising Ron Denis's strategy to bring Coulthard quickly while people criticised the lack of planning from Ferrari's team management. On lap five, when the two Ferraris re-joined the track, they were placed 10^th and 11^th respectively whereas Coulthard and Hakkinen were 1^st and 4^th on the grid.

FERRARI HAS THE LAST LAUGH

Ferraris dominated as though they were on a different planet altogether 

The safety car leaves the pack to race on lap 10 and Coulthard in lead takes advantage and pulls away from the second placed Jordan of Frentzen. Jos Verstappen and Arrows Asiatech looked a better team under wet conditions and were placed in second place at the end of lap 10. At the start of lap 12, Michael Schumacher had moved five places up and was now in sixth position charging his way to regain the top spot. A lap later, he was in top three with just Verstappen and Coulthard ahead of him. 4.4 seconds faster than anyone on track, he was two seconds away to take the top position. While rest of the cars were on full-wets, Ferrari took that long time in the pits to decide between intermediates and wets; the option to go for intermediates paid off as Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello made a mockery of everyone with the sheer advantage they gained over a better thought out strategy. That was the game, set and race for Ferrari! They gained all of it and more in just five laps!  

Michael Schumacher would race another 40 laps and finish a good 23 seconds clear from his Ferrari mate Barrichello to win the 46^th Grand Prix of his career. Ferrari took time during that long pit-stop, discussed at length and finally decided to go for intermediates instead of full-wet weather tyres. You can call that stroke of luck - but little do people knew, Ferrari ran in intermediates on the race morning warm up to gather performance data while other teams were happy with doing rounds in fully-threaded tyres.

That was 2001 and I hope tomorrow's race has some exciting moments just as it was 14 seasons ago. Will Verstappen Jr. emulate his father's performance at the same track? it remains to be seen! 

AFTER MICHAEL, HERE COMES VETTEL - FERRARI'S NEW HOPE

The three German Ferrari drivers in Formula One - Wolfgang Von Trips on the left was the first

Come Sunday, Sebastian Vettel will be the third German driver to race for Ferrari works team in Formula One. Going by the record his previous two compatriots have achieved - there is little to suggest otherwise but success for the youngest four-time world champion.

WOLFGANG VON TRIPS

In the 1950's, there was none more famous German driver than Wolfgang Von Trips - who began his Formula One career with Ferrari in 1956. It took some time for him to get going and it was in the season of 1961, when he and the American Phil Hill both demonstrated their prowess and the power of Ferrari. If not for his death as a result of a collision with Jim Clark at the Italian Grand Prix, Von Trips would have clinched his first driver's championship as he was leading the championship at that time. The only consolation for Ferrari was Phil Hill's triumph as he won an emotional race marred by the on-track incident involving his team mate.

Two of Von Trips wins came in his final season at Netherlands (Dutch Grand Prix) and Aintree (British Grand Prix) and it was not until 1992, a German driver had won a full-length race in Formula One. At the time of Schumacher's victory at the Spa-Francorchamps (Belgian Grand Prix 1992), it was just the fourth win (Jochen Mass won the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix which was curtailed) for a German driver.  And since then German drivers have won a total of 146 races.

ERA OF MICHAEL SCHUMACHER

One of the best drivers of all-time and taken in the same breath as Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher will go down as the best German F1 racer irrespective of what Vettel will go on to achieve. For the 1996 F1 season, Michael Schumacher had decided to don the famous red colours of Ferrari. The two consecutive driver's titles with Benetton were anything to go by, a move to the ailing Italian team was perceived as an illogical move. Ferrari was struggling and the team were in a desperate need for a champion who could revive their fortunes. In came 'Michael Schumacher' to overcome this challenging task and to bring back the glory days of the Prancing Horse.

With Michael Schumacher at the top of his game, Ferrari rose to new heights which also saw them claim six consecutive constructor's title (between 1999-2004) and five consecutive driver's title (2000-2004). In those 11 seasons with Ferrari, Schumacher won a wow-rendering 72 races! (91 in total). Just for the record, the second placed Alain Prost has 51 victories in his career.

NEW HOPE WITH VETTEL

Sebastian Vettel is 27 years old, the same age as Michael Schumacher when he joined Ferrari. Vettel said at the time of joining Ferrari - "When I was a kid, Michael Schumacher in the red car was my greatest idol and now it's an incredible honour to finally get the chance to drive a Ferrari."

For Ferrari, since that emotional heartbreak in Brazil in 2008, they have not won any championships. This winless phase is nothing compared to the 20 years drought they went through between 1979 and 1999. Like every era, this too is different and with technology and news reaching to all corners of the world by a single click, each season without a win makes it that much harder, opinions are quickly drawn which aches the management a touch more and thus with the start of new season comes pressure in the form of expectations, great expectations.

Fernando Alonso during his stint with Ferrari came close to winning more than once, but always found wanting at the last hurdle. This year Vettel will be on the other side after scripting those memorable wins for Red Bull which had him win those close encounters against Alonso. Alonso will remain a rival if it is of any comfort and instead Vettel will be alongside Kimi Raikkonen, who was Ferrari's last champion eight seasons ago.

This is what great racers are made of, the ability to drive a team forward, win championships and taste successes together. Michael Schumacher had to wait four years to achieve glory with Ferrari, and who knows how long Vettel has to wait. One thing is clear, he would definitely enjoy this challenge than spending few more years at Red Bull.

We will see how history unfolds for the German driver with the Italian team. 

MY FIRST F1 RACE ON TRACK - SINGAPORE GP 2008

At the end of the day, it was probably worth the wait. After following F1 for a good nine years (since 1999), it was about time to catch the action of Formula One on the circuit. It was my dream to watch a race live and that race happened to be the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix.

Up until 2008, there were races all around the globe and F1 had touched all the continents barring Antarctica. Singapore offered a new variety - the concept of night race which in Formula One was unheard of. Like me, everyone else was looking forward to how it would pan out and whether visibility issues will be the major talking point. History was in the making and I for once did not want to let go of this opportunity.

Four Ferrari fans from Bangalore among countless others from the world decide to make a trip to Singapore. Believe it or not, I was so excited that - tickets were booked even before the cars were shipped to Australia for the first race of the season. A good seven months in advance!

Four Ferrari fans... thrilled before the race and disappointed by the end of it

WATCHING THE RACE AS A FAN

This iconic night race was scheduled in September. Looking back at those months leading up to the race, I must admit I was such an innocent F1 fan. I had absolutely no interest in the politics that went behind the track. All that was important to me was what happened on the track barring for some snippets on cars and driver's development before the new season. What a stress-free F1 fan life it was! Now, I am unable to get over the Piranha Club, the PEST (Political, Environmental, Social and Technological) aspects of Formula One.

I am still a fan - but a great degree of innocence associated with it has been lost. I guess, this is a small price one pays for getting access to more information about the sport. And the eternal battle goes on continuously to retain just the fan element these days, whenever I watch the race. I am happy I was a different soul when it came to being a fan back in 2008.

All excited to witness the first ever night race 

THE RACE WEEKEND

One particular disadvantage visiting a city during a F1 weekend is that - it is over-crowded. Be it any place, there is absolutely no iota of space just for yourself on the streets. To top it, this was a street race circuit and with it gone were the famous roads of Singapore city.

The buzz was to be seen all around. Many offers up for grabs, promotional events at each of the busy streets and inside the malls. I lost count of the number of malls we got to see. The weather was humid and all we did was to see as many places as possible during the day and head to the circuit in the evenings.

The sound of an F1 car sounds so different on TV and whilst you are in the circuit. We had our seats on the Marina Bay stand which sat between the Esplanade Theatre Bay and the Marina Promenade Park. It was an evening carnival - with people most of huge fans of F1 not shying away from showing where their loyalties lay.  

On the qualifying Saturday, it was not a surprise to see Felipe Massa claim the pole position for Ferrari. He had emerged as a championship contender and was trailing Lewis Hamilton by a point leading into this race. Kimi Raikkonen, the defending champion qualified 3rd making the evening truely Ferrari's.

THE RACE

In retrospect, the race turned out a bummer for all the Ferrari fans. To cut the long story short, Massa led Hamilton and Raikkonen for the first phase of the race. Alonso driving for Renault pits first on lap 12. His team mate Nelson Piquet Jr, crashes out on Turn 17 two laps later - right in front of our grand stand. Safety car comes in and all the cars queue behind the slowest car on track. The pit lane was closed till the time all cars were behind the safety car.

It was a chaos once the pits were open. Massa and the Ferrari team panicked as the car was released with part of the fuel hose attached to the car. A potential hazard with fuel spilling all over, Massa stopped at the end of the pit lane while Ferrari mechanics ran to attend him. In a circuit, which resembles Monaco for its disadvantage on overtaking, Massa's race was well and truely compromised. With FIA penalising Ferrari for unsafe release, Massa had to serve a stop-go penalty. He was now the last car on track and had to rely purely on fate! Raikkonen also lost time as he had queued behind Massa during the pits. It was now anybody's race.

Alonso was the only driver who seemed to have gained from the safety car period. All he did after the first round of pit stops was to drive his Renault to its optimum and look after the tyres. His persistence paid off as he took the lead midway to the race finish and never looked threatened from rest of the pack. Yes, he did top the time sheets on the final practice - but his victory was more attributed to the strategy and a little bit of luck - a fact which he iterated at the post-race press conference.

Little did I know... a few hours later, this car would end up winning 

We were disappointed as both the Ferraris did not finish the race. And it was such a race where things tend to happen in a flash! No comfort of watching the replays - though there were live screens in front of us big and clear. All did not matter or those that mattered were short-lived; the thrill of being part of the history took care of it all.

A small part of F1 history 

A year later, we all got to know the Renault team under the leadership of Flavio Briatore staged the crash of Nelson Piquet Jr. on purpose. Briatore was subsequently banned by FIA and Nelson Piquet Jr. will have to be contended with the fact - that his only claim to fame is him being the son of a former three- time world champion.

THE PRESENT

Early this year while holidaying in Singapore, I managed to walk on the race track which also serves as a public road. I recollected several of my memories from 2008 - my first race on track, meeting the original fan club of Kimi Raikkonen, getting to look at some of the vintage cars, hearing the sounds of the F1 cars as they accelerate and brake, walking on the circuit after the race and meeting some of the F1 enthusiasts who like us were witnessing their first race.

All smiles with the Finnish fans of Kimi Raikkonen 

Looking at the editions leading up to this year's Singapore GP, very little has changed. Safety cars appear each year (a record), drivers are pretty much the same from 2008 and with regards to popularity, it still retains that 'aura' and has inspired other circuits (Abu Dhabi and Bahrain) to use lights for the race.

My professional life and to a large extent my personal life changed after this race as within a month I got admitted to do my Sports Masters - something which I had not expected to come through whilst I was at the race in Singapore. A career shift, discussing various aspects among the sports enthusiasts, meeting a new friend who now is my partner; travelling, writing, cooking, understanding cultures, reading, visiting a lot of F1 circuits and other sporting events. All the sporting evolution in me has come at a cost - losing the innocence of being a sports fan. I must say, devil is in the detail or perhaps this is how one grows up!

Taken in January 2014 - the view of the grand stand and the infamous Nelson Piquet Jr's crash 

However, if I look at the interval of my life between then and now - I can confidently say it has been a wonderful, inspiring, humbling, learning, challenging and a journey worth every minute of it as I look forward this week's Singapore Grand Prix and beyond.